The invention discloses a synthesis method of DPA. The method comprises the following steps: (1) adding
methanol, o-nitrotoluene, a catalyst, concentrated
sulfuric acid,
distilled water into an
autoclave, performing heating with stirring to 50 DEG C, evacuating air and then introducing
hydrogen, controlling a pressure in the
autoclave to 0.1 MPa, carrying out a reaction for 5 h, then performing suction
filtration, distilling a filtrate to remove
methanol, diluting a residual solution by adding water and then adjusting pH to be neutral with
ammonia water, performing extracting with
toluene, washing an organic phase with a dilute
sodium hydroxide solution, and performing reduced pressure
distillation on the organic phase to obtain 4-methoxy-2-
methylaniline; and (2) adding 4-methoxy-2-
methylaniline,
phenol naphthalene,
cyclohexanone, and the catalyst into an
autoclave, replacing air with
nitrogen, performing heating to 250 DEG C, controlling a pressure in the autoclave to 1 Mpa, performing cooling to
room temperature after a reaction is completed, filtering a reaction solution, and performing reduced pressure
distillation on a filtrate and collecting various fractions, wherein a latter fraction is DPA. The raw materials are cheap and easy to obtain, the operation is simple, the yield is high, the
energy consumption is low, and the method has practical value and economic value, andis suitable for enterprise production.